


Analysing Tenko Chabashira

by Anonymous



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Character Analysis, Gen, adhd tenko, autistic tenko chabashira, endgame spoilers, fixed more typos, headcanons, look I can't see her as neurotypical at all, oh god I wrote this sleep deprived and only now realized the typos at the title, this is probably reading too much but that is also what my brain does
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:06:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29607792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Or how a character I disliked became my favourite.
Comments: 22
Kudos: 22
Collections: Anonymous





	1. Chapter 1

I get that many people hate Tenko and while I disliked her at first it all changed when I stopped to analyze her character.

You see, Tenko is mostly a joke character, that has like 2 traits to her: Hating men and liking Himiko to an unhealthy degree.

That's what I thought at first. 

And to make matters worse I'm trans so some of the stuff she said made me extra wary at times.

And these last few interactions with Saihara and Love across the universe are simply awful, not to mention the love hotel scene so I'm not going to try and defend them at all, even if I do want to check how they were in the original someday, but at least, she does seem accept trans people, even if she requests them to medically transition, which…

Is less bad than a TERF I guess?

But it still _sucks._

I'm not sure how Japan itself is with these things but based on some games I played and other media I consumed it does seem like trans people only are accepted with surgery in most places, hopefully things will change… At least she accepts Keebo as neither 'man' or 'woman' in the plot itself so there's that.

But then I went to rewatch some stuff about v3, searching japanese translated texts (Which, I used mainly fan translated resources since unfortunately my teacher went back to Japan and I could only have the first level class - so my japanese is really basic) and Tenko was the character I ended up liking the most upon that, and I spent a while trying to put the pieces together as to why because I simply _couldn't_ understand that.

First, there are some characters I like in v3 that say awful stuff in the japanese version too like Kaito (and his transphobia in japanese version of chapter 3...)… And that I choose to ignore sometimes. But, the thing about v3 is, _no_ character there is completely innocent and pure. 

They are _all_ flawed, some way more, some way less. 

Not even Gonta would be 'pure', he is actually really smart and agreed to do everything in chapter 4 and it seems that the translation did him dirty. 

Himiko, for example, treats Keebo awfully as well, so badly that he remarked that she was the second worst person in that place after Kokichi, and she has no excuse for treating him that harshly. All of them are varying levels of douches in different aspects, and that's exactly why I like the cast so much.

These flaws, some that don’t really seem to mix with their ‘personas’, even if small, makes them feel more human to me, and makes the ending make more sense. 

And I feel that these things were traits from their pregame personality that seeped into them because you can't really change a personality fully, only backstories, how they'd react to these new backstories would still make them them. And not to say I think all of them are evil, I still think that they kept their essences with changed up backstories. Which probably makes so that in a world where danganronpa isn’t seen as a normal and fun game to others, where they actually are experiencing these things and not seeing them as fiction anymore, they’d be able to recognize how messed up that was.

Back to Tenko. There is something about her that I failed to realize at first. 

First of all, there is _no_ right way to interpret things, and even this whole post might end up making _no sense_ for most people, since, the way each person interprets a thing is _really personal_ and related to their life experiences, and you usually input these whenever you interact with anything.

And someone who sees Tenko as a one sided joke character, is _just as right as me_ because I have no way to prove that the writers had this intent at all, and because that person won’t have the same experiences as I have and their experiences are as valid as mine. 

What changed Tenko to me was, even if all these small things here were put as jokes, they make me see her as _heavily_ coded as neurodivergent. 

I'm no doctor but I'm autistic, have ADHD, and _many_ neurodivergent friends as well. So I know some traits about these two really well, mostly from the first one because it's the one I was most exposed to. I see plenty of headcanons for like, Himiko or Gonta being autistic but very few for Tenko. And well. Hyperfixation time to explain this!

Seeing Tenko with either of these - or both, as I personally do, made her _whole_ character make a lot more sense to me. And I'm going to explain why. And ask you to think of her this way for a while and see if this line of reasoning makes more sense to you as well.

But before that, I want to speak about stuff that seemed to be lost in localization.

Firstly, her hatred of men: she never outright disses the men characters in the japanese text I read, unless they did something bad. 

Instead of degenerate males she replaces one of the Kanji for boys with the death Kanji because they can sound the same. I like the term _Menace_ that many people have used, or maybe ‘bad o _men_ ’ could also be a pun she’d use. 

Thing is, to the characters, they can't read the Kanji and it's like she just says ' _men_ ' in a derogatory way, as if it was death itself for her to say the word. 

I do wonder how her love across the universe is in the original since she is so against killing… But I found nothing on that or in other post game modes.

But the most interesting tidbit that I found is that she treats everyone with -san honorifics, meaning that she treats _everyone_ equally, and very respectfully even those she claims to hate, something no other character does.

Which is made clear by the scene where she throws both Shuichi and Himiko to the ground. She treated them the exact same way. She offers them both really similar advice as well. She mourns for all of the dead, even men like Rantaro or Hoshi. So, her hatred of men, as her tvtropes page says, is way more bark than bite. She is actually really empathetic and is one of the people that treated Shuichi better regarding his grief on Kaede, and I do think that she doesn't hate men as much as she claims to.

Not to mention she also seems to be less aggressive in the japanese version. With no spine crushing offers and all. She is very against killing, after all.

  
  
  


Now. Let's get to why I think she has ADHD/ASD, with some quotes from her in the game as reference!

_“HAAAAIYAAAAAAAHHH!!!!! I'm yelling so I can build up my spirit energy!_

_Don't you know you can unlock your brain's full potential by yelling to build up spirit energy!?”_

_"Also, I don't tolerate lies from anyone, but especially not from degenerate males! Got it?"_

_"First, let's breathe in! And breathe out! We need to remember our "No, No, No's"! "No pushing! No running! No talking!””_

_"I'm so happy, I just can't contain my emotions! Like an excited dog that just pees everywhere!"_

And for her FTEs:

_“My passionate energy, huh? I *have* been told that it gives people headaches!_

_I thought I was being mocked! But it turns out, I was being praised the whole time!”_

_“Grrrrrrrrrrr...!_

_HIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSS!!!_

_Give me a reaction already! I don't know what else to do!_

_I'm intimidating you! GRRRRRRRRRRR!!!”_

_“What do you know!? I'm much calmer than before!_

_Yeah... My parents told me I used to have anger tantrums similar to an exploding volcano._

_I guess my parents were pretty worried about that._

_They thought I wouldn't be able to fit into society that way..._

_So they sent me to a temple to help discipline my mind._

_And as result of my training, I became the calm and composed girl I am today!”_

_“Yeah, it's good I can casually talk to people now.”_

_“I thought I was talking normally before, but I realized others couldn't tolerate me anymore.”_

_"If you get too excited about Christmas or Valentine's Day, your moves become weaker!"_

_"In my case, my moves become weaker if I interact with males._

_Also, if I eat more than three sweets a day, or if I don't keep a clean environment..."_

  
  
  
  
  


Anyway! Let’s get to my points!

  
  


**1)Shouting, no volume control, growling, hissing, using mnemonics:**

She shouts to help bring her energy, and while that can be a thing that some people do, I think it can also be some kind of verbal stim. She seems to have no volume control and that seems to have annoyed people around her for a long while and she seems to have no idea why. Growling and hissing is something many autistics do as well.

**  
2)Like a 'exploding volcano' and trouble controlling emotions.**

The exploding volcano tantrums could refer to meltdowns. And she gets easily overwhelmed, in her sprite she even looks like she’s stimming when she says the ‘dog peeing everywhere’ line. She also has too much energy. An 'emotional rollercoaster'.

**3)Being gullible and hating lies, strong sense of justice.**

I believe that the first point to be discussed here is her master. Maybe he didn't mean to have her take things too literally and was just warning her, or joking and maybe he _did_ manipulate her, who knows. 

I believe that after being sent to the temple because of her trouble controlling her emotions, she had taken interest in the person that actually listened to her, and ' _taken her seriously'_ she clinged to him as a safe person in that new spot. 

And as a kid with trouble getting some rules, he made up a few things to help her behave (like what I believe Neo Aikido itself is.), to reinforce the rules he needed something she'd have interest in in order for her to follow. (Like, neo aikido. Doing 'bad' stuff: you'll get weaker and all and she doesn’t want to get weaker! Not very different from telling a kid to be good or else Santa will give them coal) And look, I needed some stuff like this as a kid as well. Since her temple seemed to be against romance I guess he could have said that but, who knows.

To her, her master is someone that couldn’t ever lie, and she never even pieced it together that her master was a man. She also takes some stuff way too literally and hates when people lie to her, and well, autistic people usually hate lies. She also has a strong sense of justice and will step in when she thinks something unfair has happened, even if it means to get wary of a girl, like she did with Maki in chapter 3's start, or when she went to confront Angie with Shuichi and Maki(and even asked a boy for help to do what she thought was needed!)

**4)Sensory over-responsivity.**

I believe that her dislike of touches, while heightened by her 'hatred' of men, can also come from a sensitive skin. She also has a remarkable sensitivity to textures, as Tsumugi asked if she had a god tongue when she was commenting on Kirumi’s rice balls in chapter 2 and she said she could feel all the rice grains.

  
  


**5) Hyperfixations/special interests**

She has extreme interest in idols, mahou shoujos, neo-aikido and the first two made her have sort of one in _Himiko_ , which, I do believe is also her first crush and she doesn't know what to do. She also says that _'Because my dream is to be a cute magical girl like Himiko and perform for people!'_ and for me that means she may have some internal conflict there, because, she isn't exactly sure if she wants to be like Himiko or with Himiko at times. Hyperfixations truly make distinguishing some stuff really hard.  
  


**6) Low social skills/Trouble reading social cues and following people around**

Look, she just goes around and asks stuff like _“Is it true you can tell how healthy a male is by how hard they get in the morning?”,_ and she did ask to go to the bathroom with Himiko when she said she was scared of going alone, but to be honest one of her quotes is _“If you wanna show off true friendship, learn from girls! Like going to the bathroom together! How can degenerate males say they're true friends if they can't even pee together!”_ as well so maybe these are things she didn’t truly realize how _inappropriate_ they could sound. She seems to have overall trouble in starting interactions as well. And had trouble reading Himiko’s feelings and only seems to get other people's feelings better when she spars.

Some people interpret Tenko as a stalker but I never really saw it like that, even when I didn't care for her. 

You see, autistic people end up following stuff that interests them sometimes. It happened to me as well. Sometimes it is a cute pigeon. Sometimes it's a dog. Sometimes it's a person you want to be near with. And sometimes you just don't know any other way to interact with others besides that. 

But you usually learn where you can and where you can't follow others by their reactions - or at least learn to not follow them at all, like I did, and just give up befriending people personally.

Tenko doesn't seem to have friends besides people at the temple and her family, and asks stuff that is socially inappropriate at times so she probably doesn't know these things yet. After all, she said that she thought she was talking normally but other people didn’t tolerate her... 

So, I never saw her as a _stalker_. 

Doesn't stalking need to be something done when someone is unaware? 

And look, I hate stalkers. I had some bad experiences with that as well. It truly is creepy to be woken up and see someone watching you and feeling you're being watched randomly. Having no privacy, when you feel you should have… 

Stalkers are creepy and bad. And intend to take advantage of others in their unawareness.

But Tenko _always_ made her presence very aware to Himiko. 

I do get that she was inconvenient however and that Himiko disliked it, but she _genuinely_ didn’t seem to realize that. 

And that insistence can be _awful_ at times but she ended up becoming less pushy as time went on and she started to notice Himiko’s discomfort.

And that’s the end of the first part of my analysis of Tenko! I hope this was a nice reading that made some sense, and want to hear what you think about it! Next chapter will be about how she interacts with some characters and of the potential I think she had.


	2. narrative foils - Himiko Yumeno

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tenko has many narrative foils through v3. But this is the most crucial to her character

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> splitting this up bc I had not as much time to write as I thought I'd have

The first, most obvious and most plot important narrative foil for Tenko is Himiko Yumeno:

While not something I realized in my first play and that felt really forced on it actually, when you put in the neurodivergent headcanon, Himiko, is, actually, one of the most similar characters to Tenko, even if personality wise they clash.

They both have masters that are extremely relevant to their backstories and that are the most important people to them(and both, actually, _aren't_ as perfect as they think and they both _refuse_ to realize that), have incredibly low self esteem(Which, in Tenko, is more noticeable when she says she can't be cute or an idol or feminine or when she overcompensates by wearing way too many hair accessories and extra frills), a really similar way of thinking(and are a tad bit close minded), take things too literally at times and spout inappropriate things, and, are actually really similar intelligence wise (and, if Himiko _does_ have some kind of learning disability, it's likely Tenko _also_ has. It might not be a good measurement but in her ultimate talent development plan stats, Himiko is actually ‘smarter’ than Tenko.)

And such, Tenko actually believes Himiko's magic is real and will fight anyone that doubts that, just like Himiko herself.

They both feel a lot. Tenko herself says that Himiko's heart is the richest of them all, and Himiko only has trouble expressing that - So, they both are some of the most emotional characters in the cast.

If Tenko doesn't know how to hide and doesn't actually even _try_ to hide because expressing her feelings is a core of her character, Himiko doesn't know how to _identify_ her feelings. And she only really realizes how much she missed Tenko when she was gone and then has a breakdown, and a (likely) shutdown. Alexithymia is common in the autism spectrum.

Himiko also has been bullied in the past and has severe anxiety/depression issues, and such, may be too anxious at the killing game itself to actually care for anything. Her extreme lethargy could also be explained by ADHD (Because surprisingly, personality wise I'm mostly like Himiko: I never thought I could have adhd because of how _lethargic_ I was. I just have problems getting motivated and have been called lazy through all my life but alas, Laziness doesn't _actually_ exist and thanks to these kinds of comments I have had no will to live and grow up and have been wanting to die because everything tires me way too much ever since I was 6. Himiko _did_ have suicidal thoughts as well.)

Also to note, that, it's likely Tenko made Himiko overwhelmed and Himiko herself didn't know how to deal with that because, just like Tenko, she doesn't feel like she had friends and having someone _extremely_ energetic come up to you was very new and extra tiresome to her. Not to mention that she believes that _anyone_ that gets close to her has a hidden intent: either romantic or thinks she's 'easy' to manipulate so she probably never had someone truly be interested in her.

Thanks to that she thought Tenko was mocking her when she praised how she eat or stuff because she had trouble with these things and that's why she got extra wary and uncomfortable near her but only realized that Tenko actually cared for her and wasn't mocking about it when she defended her in trial 2, and she was warming up to her from that point on. But, the main proof that Tenko _did_ take Himiko very seriously and didn’t _only_ have selfish intentions regarding her is that she tried to confront her when she thought that she was stepping too far and risked losing the ‘friendship’ with the person she cared the most.  
  


And maybe the translation is to blame for some stuff feeling off but Tenko's death was what made Himiko react the most - even start calling her by her first name in the Japanese version, so she did care a _lot_ about her by that point in some way or else she wouldn't be very affected about it.

Sidenote on what was else lost in translation: Himiko has a noticeable speech pattern that, for me, sounds like anime mascot characters, especially mahou shoujo. To note that her VA will voice the new precure series mascot character now, which I am quite expectant to see. Her speech pattern is actually a 'old man' speech pattern apparently, so either way: For me it makes super sense for Tenko to find her _extra_ cute thanks to that. She's like either a talking mascot character, or an old man (which, Tenko is likely _extremely_ familiar with thanks to her temple). Either way, it also makes it easier for her to believe in her magic.


	3. narrative foils - Angie Yonaga

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I won't delve too much on her for personal reasons but it's undeniable that her character is important to Tenko and should be the next discussed

Ah, Angie… Taking aside _who_ she reminds me of to write this as unbiased as possible, and taking away the awful adaptation choice to put an actual religion's god name when in the original it was a vague god. 

She is the Kokichi to Tenko's Kaito (The latter which probably will be my next analysis). The logic to her emotion. They are both really energetic as well.

They both feel really lonely, but Angie had way more experiences at socializing thanks to her island traditions. As such, she is way better at socializing than her as well.

And, while Tenko gets jealous of her and is extremely expressive, Angie doesn't seem to ever feel any sort of negative sensations at all. Or at least, showcase them.

And maybe identify what even are her feelings and her thoughts. While Tenko knows what she feels, Angie has trouble distinguishing what is hers and what is her God's.

Thanks to that, it's hard to know what of her predictions were deduced by her own smarts and what could have been divinated. She also has no problem going against those she was close to when it's the most logical decision while Tenko would rather risk her life than betraying someone she trusts.

  
  
  


Believe me or not, the thing that links Angie and Tenko the _most_ is that they are both _extremely_ religious.

While Angie's religion _depends_ on a god and their blessing, and to follow their orders, In Tenko's the existence or not of a god does _not_ matter. Self improvement and your own actions are what matter the most, and you can only count on _yourself_ to do these.

Whether you think Angie is manipulative or genuinely has been manipulated long enough that she thinks everything she does is ok, she always tries to do what she thinks will be the best for everyone, just like Tenko. They both try to be supportive and encourage others in their own way but Angie is way better at comforting people than Tenko is. Because Angie is more of an escapist while Tenko is more focused on what she can see and prove on her own. 

Angie is great at reading other people and saying just what they want to hear, while Tenko can only read others better when throwing them and, while she is great at it after that, she always offers the same thing, _Neo Aikido_ , and her blunt approach to their issues tend to tick others off. 

Angie has never been confronted in her life and gets interested in those that _do_ confront and get mad at her. And in the game, Tenko is the main character that does so.


	4. narrative foils - Kaito Momota

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While both are really similar in surface, I still believe that he isn't the main foil for Tenko.

Ah, Kaito... In my first playthrough of v3 I got a fake spoiler that led me to believe he would kill Kaede in ch1 and the person I was playing with also thought he was dying soon thanks to thinking he was called Hoshi(because stars and all). We were both shocked on how long he managed to live.

And how we ended up liking him even if his tropes aren't usually my favourite(I am one of these people that didn't like Kamina at all, because battle shounens just aren't for me and the best part of TTGL for me were the political discussions).

Did you know that cabbage, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts and a bunch of other stuff are actually the same plant, Brassica oleracea, in different cultivars?

And such, while they look and might even taste very differently or have different textures, they have much more in common than you think.

If Tenko's a broccoli, Angie a Kale, Himiko a Cabbage, then, Kaito would be a cauliflower.

What they have similar, is, mostly, their personalities. I'm going to only take dub Kaito in consideration here because Kaito in the japanese version is _way more_ abrasive and a character I can't say I like as much. 

Just like Tenko, Kaito has been raised by people way older than him. They both are supportive, sexist, impulsive, hot-blooded, passionate, and stubborn. They would risk their lifes to keep on trusting in who they trust and to help and protect them, and are way more mature and smarter than they look when it comes to some subjects - even if their guts keep them from always being logical and makes them make bad decisions, like jumping to fight the exisals.

And they both wear clothes in questionable ways.

They have a strong sense of justice(which may not always be a good thing. I could go on and on on why I think vigilantism isn't good at all and how it affected Tenko in a bad way but I'm also going to talk about that in one of my big fic projects, and I don't want others to feel like I plagiarized myself there.). Kaito has much more ego and trust in himself than Tenko does, however, and thanks to that, his motivational speeches tend to work better.

But where Tenko is very against hiding anything, Kaito is very good at it when it means it is the better choice for the others, even being able to lie when he believes it's the best decision.

Both, however, do believe in others' capacity to change and become better, and as such, they are willing to put past their previous conceptions of others and give them new chances.

But, Kaito can actually be way more disrespectful than Tenko when it comes to some subjects, something that comes from his sexism, and likely from his actual Pre-game personality as well. He punches Shuichi for mourning Kaede while Tenko fights on him about that and defends Shuichi's right to express his feelings the way he feels like it.

If Kaito is a battle shounen anime protagonist in the Kamina/Galo(the latter which I do like a lot) vein, and sometimes with some of its worst toxic masculinity tropes sprinkled in him as well, Tenko is more like a collectible based anime protagonist, those that believe in friendship and the heart of the cards or whatever it is they collect. Like Yu-gi-oh's Yuuya(or, actually, more like Yuugo in that series), or Ash Ketchum.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Or, just like how I ended up realizing that, just like I don't like battle shounens that much and am way more into the collectible stuff based anime, Tenko fulfills all of Kaito's roles but in a way I like way better, and japanese Kaito is a character I like way less than dub Kaito.


	5. narrative foils - Korekiyo Shinguuji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this one is not one many people comment much on, but it's one I do think it's quite interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one has a bit of a religious explanation at the beginning but if you want to delve directly into the analysis itself, please skip to "And now is where the comparison with Tenko will actually begin.", which is bolded. Also to note that I don't really like Korekiyo but did my best to analyze him, so there's a bit of complaints about him in that first part before the comparison, so if anyone likes him and doesn't like reading these things, uh... Maybe you should skip to the second part as well.

If I disliked Tenko at first, I _hated_ Korekiyo.

For many reasons, and these are not related to anyone I know, unlike my discomfort with Angie, but there is one that for this particular analysis to make _any_ sense must be explained.

The religion I was raised in has plenty of seances, and mediunity is a huge thing, so I am quite well versed on that and experienced them firsthand; To see them being used that creepy way made me appalled even _before_ Tenko died.

That same religion shaped some of my core beliefs today, even if its ableism and some other issues with some people here made me get away from it as _soon_ as I could.

And these are basically: reincarnation (there are spirits, and all of us are immortal and go through many lives, in all sorts of different worlds and dimensions, until we reach a point we don't need to have a physical form anymore, and that's why death isn't a _punishment_ at all for me), that you should always treat everyone the best way you can, everything exists for a reason and that there is no one that is unredeemable/everyone can improve, even if not in this life.

But the latter is a truly hard one to apply at times. There are some atrocities that happen in the world that I can’t forgive at all.

  
  


Point is, I read him as _actually_ being a medium, even if everything was way too zany there. For someone that doesn't believe in these things he probably is a completely different character. Not that I think that being a medium excludes other explanations, like neurodivergence though! There are some scientific researches in my main language that try to research what is mediunity and what isn't (like hallucinations and stuff) and when there is overlap and how to differentiate them and I find them quite interesting.

Also to note that the religion I was raised in is _far_ from being the only one that has the belief in spirits and mediunity in my own country, but these do have way bigger frowning upon some bigger religions here. The religion I was raised in is merely better accepted by these bigger religions, and less persecuted, because unlike these others, it has _european_ roots. The religious intolerance/racism against these others gets so bad that they had to disguise their temples as temples of said european religion in the past.

Well. _Korekiyo_ ; I failed to realize at first that he was a victim to his sister and heavily traumatized as well.

Do I like him even after that? 

_No_.

He still did way too many bad things in the game itself, even if his past was fake, and, since he’s fictional, _canon_ Korekiyo, for me is unredeemable.

But, thanks to writing a certain work that is centered around redemption, I knew I had to put him in. Because it would actually be the _hardest_ thing for me to do. And trying to come up with a believable redemption for him and trying to understand how he thinks made me _actually_ change how I viewed some stuff about life.

**And now is where the comparison with Tenko will actually begin.**

Tenko represents _morality_ , even when it means breaking rules and logic, being able to see the potential to be good in everyone(trusting Korekiyo enough to go to the seance), even if she believes some people( men) will take more time to get there. Korekiyo represents _amorality_ , or maybe, a whole different morality measurement. Because for him, morals are all made up constructs and can change easily in different societal structures. As such, for him, things that are considered ‘bad’ or ‘ugly’ are also beautiful because they showcase ‘humanity’. However, in saying Miu and Maki aren’t apt to befriend his sister it does imply that there _are_ things he frowns upon.

Both of them are likely neurodivergent. And they both didn’t _choose_ their talents, instead, were picked by someone they respect.

While both seem to fit them, you can see that Tenko _does_ want to try other stuff, like being an idol but doesn't believe she _can_ do that. Korekiyo however, _never_ questions his older sister's decisions.

If Tenko values the _current_ life as the most important thing and hates to see death (and is a reincarnationist herself), Korekiyo values _afterlife_ the most, and doesn’t seem fazed by death at all. I do believe that he actually sees and hears his sister and the people he killed, but if that’s not to be taken in consideration: his sister’s death then largely traumatized him because she always said everything he needed to do and he had no idea what to do without her after that, and his almost death experience made him see life in another way, and distancing himself from it.

While Tenko is _extremely_ sensitive to pain, Korekiyo sees it as a way to connect with his sister(which does have _awful_ implications.).

Korekiyo seems to creep the whole cast out while Tenko is considered annoying by most, and as such, they formed no meaningful _reciprocated_ relationships in the game itself.


	6. narrative foils - Miu Iruma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually surprised with how much I found for this one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and unfortunately remembered of some points I forgot to talk in the previous ones, like Kiyo being the only person Tenko appears in a team that isn't hers in UTDP and Kiyo only appears in Rantaro's and all. And in their relationship chart Tenko says she'd help him(??), while he is one of the only 4 persons that doesn't seem to dislike Tenko in hers. Honestly the v3 cast seems to heavily dislike each other in most cases... Oh well. Maybe I'll point on these things I remembered later or maybe I'll skip them.

Both have friendless backgrounds! And likely spent some while away from regular society backgrounds. Miu in a hospital, Tenko in a temple. Thanks to that, they have serious attachment issues, and no social skills and social filters. As such, they are way less malicious than others seem to think they actually are, especially Miu. While Miu goes around insulting everyone, and even her compliments come as insults, Tenko is more respectful and goes around gushing on all the girls(which also doesn't work and her compliments backfire, _especially_ regarding Himiko which _doesn't_ like the things she points out), and giving faint praise to boys when they deserve it and only goes insulting the boys when it's needed. Unless it’s the dub.

They like children's television. It would not be far-fetched to assume Miu likes Mahou shoujos as well, she does prove to at least like Yokai watch in the game. Which. Eh. _Makes sense_ with all the toilet humour and questionable jokes it gets later on(I do like yokai watch but never got too far. Yet.) and with how mean the characters can be with each other in the original anime. _But_ , I bet she'd trust people more if she did watch Mahou shoujos and kid idol animes, these are mostly centered around the power of friendship and all and as such she'd trust others more, I think. I tend to incline that the children shows she watch are these mostly shock comedy based where the characters can be outright mean to each other like _Heybot_ which I couldn't _stand_ more than 2 minutes of watching. Or maybe stuff like Kaitou joker when even if they are friends, the characters end up competing against each other most of the time. Or just the average cartoon network shows like Gumball, Teen titans go and all.

Miu complains about all the dead and insults them, Tenko shows respect to all of them and promises to carry on their wishes. They both are kinda disliked by most classmates. And when they die, few people actually mourn them. Both put on an aggressive front to protect themselves but are actually more mellow and shy when you get to them.

But, Miu's front is _easier_ to break. Tenko's is kinda easy - if you're a girl that compliments her, that is. They both, however, are able to end up begging for others to help them if they really need it. And are way too honest and go by their gut feelings and spit out all their thoughts - which is what makes people dislike them. Neither is taken seriously, even when they do try to help others. Both are super insecure, but Miu goes around praising herself to try and forget about that while Tenko goes about praising the other girls.

Both of them wear chokers and died with neck related wounds - but while Tenko died trying to help someone, Miu died trying to protect herself. They both likely also had to sustain a lot of pain thanks to that, but Tenko also tried to remain silent in hers even if she had awful pain tolerance. Miu trusts no one around them and Tenko trusts the girls way too much. And trusts the boys more than she says as well - These lead to both of their deaths. While Miu's only friend is Keebo during the game, and he does see her as one, Tenko died without having much reciprocation on who she saw as her best friend during her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be Gonta's turn but I wasn't able to think much on him yet, so maybe I'll skip that one if I don't manage to point on anything others haven't.  
> Edit: I shouldn't have written this at 5 am but I had like no time to write yesterday so huh. Some typos fixed


	7. narrative foils - Maki Harukawa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I still am mad utdp only gave us them interacting once

Ah, Maki. I do think that there should have been much more of her and Tenko interacting and these tidbits in ch3 that had her, Shuichi and Tenko interacting make me think they'd make for an amazing main trio(She even got worried for Tenko, and realized that she wasn't used to having other people's help.). Especially because I think Tenko could fill all the roles Kaito had for them in a better way. 

But not taking my mind trying to rewrite drv3 with more Tenko and fleshing her interesting interactions with characters that aren't Himiko more, and the shipping potential I think is severely underexplored between these two(And I could go on that for hours!), let's talk about what they share and what they don't.

They look a lot like each other and wear rather generic clothing - except for Tenko's excess of accessories. I am glad they are drawn or else my prosopagnosia would make me confused if they changed clothes or hairstyles. Maki also hasn't chosen her talent, but she hates hers, instead of liking it. Unlike Tenko she can't even think of anything else she could even be as well.

While Tenko fights to protect those that need it and not to harm her opponents, Maki fights to kill - but I do argue that her reason for being an assassin was to protect as well. She'd be willing to kill to protect these that she appreciates. They both are a bit too attached to their crushes(which, I don't really think either are reciprocated even if Kaito likes Maki way more than Himiko liked Tenko), and put their crushes above anyone else when it comes to regarding their safety - both would risk their lives for them, even. 

While Maki never could get attached to others that much, she very much did have friends, and is good at cooperating with others, unlike Tenko. They both can feel attracted to women, if the childhood friend that Maki refers to in her love hotel is the one that died in a car crash. In fact, she liked that person so much she even became someone she loathed to make sure that her friend wouldn't be that person - so she won't see her getting completely emotionally wrecked.

While Maki doesn't express her emotions that much because she doesn't think it really matters anymore, Tenko is the opposite of that. Maki does have a sense of humor, she gets annoyed by others jokes and her jokes don't really fly well because they can be a bit threatening or insulting. Tenko is more about puns(why doesn't english have that word for jokes that involve the meanings of the word themselves being used in different ways or mixing some words together, this could be way shorter, ah. I really don’t blame the translators for some translation faults because english really has a lack of words and they didn’t really have much time to translate everything).

They have, what I think are stimming sprites. Maki biting her thumb and fiddling with her hair while Tenko flaps and fiddles with her fingers when nervous. They both are really strong. And their fight styles aren't really fair(even if Aikido should be, technically). But Maki likely is stronger, since Tenko doesn't actively try to harm and didn't have to fight for her life. Both value life a lot, even if Maki had to get desensitized to killing. They both speak from their heart and are honest and are a bit rude at times, but Maki is pessimistic while Tenko is optimistic. Tenko is loud while Maki is not. They are also really kind when you get past the surface.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> despite what it may look, I only really have 3 romantic ships with Tenko(and an ot3 with two of them), and prefer almost all of them as QPPs bc I can't really see her in a romantic relationship that easily, she does need to work through many of her issues with boundaries before jumping to that. I do love many friendship ships(is it platonic you use in english? I don't know) with Tenko however, but my favourite would be Saihara for sure.


	8. trivia and headcanons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just wrapping some things up

Alright, it has been fun trying to think of parallels in the cast but now not also I am way too busy and having to write these posts half asleep or with my brain half fried from these boring, way too european and prolix philosophy books I need to read for class and end up losing track or forgetting to say important stuff and connecting things, I'm also running short in creativity and might end up spoiling some of my future projects if I end up talking about some stuff. 

Anyway. Before I wrap things up, there are some tidbits or general comparisons I'd like to comment on!

-Tenko's VA voices the obvious idol reference Nico, but also local lesbian Kurokawa Suzu from Kiratto Prichan(which is funny to me because Himiko's VA voices an idol in Aikatsu, the franchise's biggest competitor. I’ve tried searching about the VA’s and the first franchise actually does seem to have many v3’s VAs in. Keebo’s, Gonta’s, and Tsumugi’s even sing. Also Keebo’s and Tsumugi’s are a pair in-show.) 

She dubs Applejack(which is also probably a lesbian), and apparently PPG's Blossom. So maybe her hair accessories were a reference to her in a way as well.

-I do think that, despite everything, a possible friendship with Shinguuji would be one of the most interesting relationships to explore. If he were not a threat to her life, I think they'd both be able to learn a lot from each other. Good and bad. From Tenko learning that women can be abusers as well, to both learning to be more selfish(which I do think would be _good_ for both)… Actually, only changing the serial killer and the religion thing and keeping him as a sort of Kururu (the Keroro Gunso one) of sorts would also be hilarious. These sort of overly villainous but also awful at it at the same time generally ineffectual characters are _great_. Where is the danganronpa character that plans to murder but keeps failing at it in hilarious ways and ends up  _ saving  _ people accidentally. _Give me that._ Also an AU where both of them can see ghosts would be interesting. Especially because there are yokai and all.

-If Shuichi, Maki and Tenko were a trio, maybe they'd be a bit like the digimon tamers trio. Well. Tenko is more like Daisuke I guess, even if she's a martial artist.

-A strong headcanon I have is that she'd have lunalights as her Yugioh deck. She would also like Celina a lot.

-I have the feeling she'd like Sentai. But not Kamen riders because women are rare in them. She'd probably love Miracle Tunes and its successors as well.

-I also think that she and Kokichi/Miu getting to be friends would be hilarious.

-While I'd like to say 'someone pls take her to therapy' I also think that going to the temple might have been the best for her instead of going to like. ABA. Most therapists suck and don't know how to solve problems and end up traumatizing people  _ more _ . Especially neurodivergent kids because they get no respect at all. While the temple gave her plenty of misgivings I do think that she grew up to express her emotions generally well and without much potential trauma(barring the vigilantism making her probably having to deal with some bad stuff). Someone please teach her about boundaries instead.

-But as I said I think that Neo Aikido was made up to her. So her master let her do anything she asked for as long as she obeyed some stuff(the weaknesses). Like, if she liked sentai and she asked to be a hero and all, her master let her. The thing about it is accepting guns and all. Everything neat Tenko sees(like Magic) she says she wants to talk to her master to see if she can implement it to neo aikido after all. And I think that wanting it to be a national sport is also Tenko's thing.

-Her name means rolling child, and since Aikido is non violent I feel she'd fare well in another non violent martial art, with rolling movements strongly involved with a lifestyle associated with a certain religion and that you learn from masters, _capoeira_. It's the talent I'd give her in a talent swap(in a certain AU I might never get to write). Obviously, in this talent swap I'd change most characters' nationalities as well.

  
  


Anyway, I hope this was an interesting read! And that my weird way to describe my thoughts wasn't confusing, because I learned english on my own as a kid to indulge on my special interests, I wish the same could be said to japanese, but it's a way harder language that, even with actual classes and practice I am  _ way  _ better at listening it than I am at reading, I can watch many things without issue but when I'm reading I often forget and trade the characters.

Tenko is a character I like a lot and that unfortunately, seems to be often interpreted as a character I loathe, and that I believe is over hated (mostly thanks to some translation choices - which, to be fair, the translators did have a lot of work for a  _ really  _ short amount of time so I don't really blame them. Translating is _hard_ and as someone that has to translate almost everything they write, I understand how hard it can be to adapt things. A lot of what I write gets lost in translation and that even when I take my time to think of proper adaptations.) 

I hope this made anyone think something new, or at least, dislike Tenko a little bit less for those that hate her. 

She does have many flaws, as many v3 characters do, specially when it comes to her writing near Himiko at times, but at the same time, thanks to her self-improvement-seeking nature, they aren't as bad as they could be, and she is far from being the worst character in the cast. And to be honest, Danganronpa does have some awful problems in general, with many characters being able to be reduced to their basic character traits.

Thanks to everyone who read until here!


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